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Russia's Space Forces launch spacecraft from Baikonur

The rocket lifted off in a standard mode

MOSCOW, September 21 (Itar-Tass) — A Proton-M carrier rocket with a spacecraft in the interests of the Defence Ministry has been successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Wednesday, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, spokeesman of the Space Forces of Russia (SFR), has told Itar-Tass.

Zolotukhin said, "At 02:47 on Wednesday, a Proton-M carrier rocket with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence was successfully launched from a site at Baikonur cosmodrome. SFR teams ensured the monitoring of the space launch by means of ground automatic control system".

"The rocket lifted off in a standard mode," Zolotukhin added. "At 02:52, the monitoring of the carrier rocket Proton-M was picked up by the GhermanTitov Main center for the testing and control of space systems in the zone of radio visibility of ground control system facilities," he said.

According to Zolotukhin, "The spacecraft is set to separate from the Briz-M booster at 11:46, Moscow time, on Sept 21".